


best laid plans

by zimsbitty (axolotls)



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, also tango/kent parson if you squint, don't ask me why it just happened idk, thank you whoever sent me this idea on anon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-11
Updated: 2016-05-11
Packaged: 2018-06-07 21:27:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6824968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/axolotls/pseuds/zimsbitty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a good plan.</p><p>-</p><p>Dex proposes to Nursey at a Falconers' game.  Nursey thinks it's a joke.</p><p>It's not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	best laid plans

**Author's Note:**

> All characters and content belong to [Ngozi](http://omgcheckplease.tumblr.com/)

It's just- he thought it was such a good plan.

And, okay, Dex isn't actually very good at planning things, let alone grand romantic gestures, but hockey's something they both love almost as much as they love each other. This should have been such a good idea.

"This is not a good idea," Lardo says bluntly as they drive towards Providence. Nursery is asleep in the backseat, head on Shitty's shoulder, whilst Dex rides shotgun.  He casts a furtive glance around, but his boyfriend is snoozing happily away, jaw slack, a little drool dribbling from the side of his mouth. He looks completely ridiculous and the best thing Dex has ever seen.

No, it's a good plan.

"It's not a good plan," Tango says to him as they stand in the queue for the food vendor.  The others have all taken their seats, Bitty having come to join them a few minutes after they arrived, and now Dex and Tango have been put on snack duty.  Dex sighs deeply, counting backwards from ten in his head.  He's mellowed out over the years, doesn't snap like he used to, but it still rankles that everyone seems to doubt him on this.  He's not good at romance like Nursey, but he still manages to make his boyfriend blush delightfully with his somewhat unconventional gestures of love. The fact that everyone's convinced that proposing via jumbotron at a Falconers' game is such a terrible idea kind of upsets him.  They mean well, but they don't know Nursey like he does. He'll like the gesture, if not for the execution then for the fact it's so _Dex_. 

"Leave it, Tango," he says, and Tango does.  Dex supposes if his boyfriend was an NHL star as dramatic as Tango's no one would question the jumbotron idea.  But Nursey's a PhD in American Literature at Harvard, not an ostentatious Aces player, so people assume he'd prefer the candlelit dinner and roses shtick.

They take their places in the stands, Dex sliding in beside Nursey, Tango next to Whiskey.  Nerves flutter in Dex's belly and he grimaces uncomfortably. 

Nursey, of course, notices straight away.

"You okay, honey?"

Dex can't bring himself to meet Nursey's concerned gaze, suddenly hyper aware of what he's about to do.  Instead he nods curtly and keeps his eyes on the rink.  He feels bad about it for a brief moment, fully aware that Nursey has no clue what's about to happen and is therefore anxious about his boyfriend.  It's the one thing in Dex's favour: his romantic gestures are normally so out on a limb that they're virtually unpredictable.  Like that time with the pizza delivery guy and the string quartet, Dex is pretty sure Nursey has no idea what's about to happen. 

The blare of the horn startles Dex out of his reverie, and he straightens up.  His hand goes to his pocket and he squeezes the small velvet box in it for reassurance that this is really happening.  There's no going back now, and no matter what Nursey thinks of his proposal, he knows he doesn't want to. 

Their friends are suddenly on high alert, glancing back and forth between Dex and the jumbotron, and for one fleeting moment Dex feels all his bravery leave him.  He's suddenly, horribly aware of the fact that they are in an arena filled with thousands of people, and he's about to propose to the love of his life on national television.  _I can't do this_ , he thinks.  And then his eyes fall of Nursey's smiling face, and he thinks: _yes I can_.

The camera falls on them.  People in the crowd start gasping and cheering as eyes begin to turn to the jumbotron.  Nursey glances up at the screen, sees the words, and-

-he laughs.  He bursts in raucous laughter, eyes squeezing shut, hands slapping his knees.  Dex, who had dropped to one knee when Nursey looked at the screen, feels his stomach drop to his feet.  Their friends - Lardo and Shitty and Bitty and Tango and Whiskey and Ransom and Holster and Chowder and Farmer oh god, oh god, all of them - are staring at him with varying degrees of pity and horror. 

After what feels like a lifetime but is in reality probably only a few seconds, Nursey's eyes crack open and he turns to look at Dex.  He means to share in the hilarity of the situation, but he's pulled up short by the frozen terror on Dex's face.  He looks like his whole world's collapsing, and he's holding a small open box in his hands, and-

"Oh my god."

Nursey stops laughing.  His eyes flick between the ring - simple and beautiful and so Nursey, holy fuck - and his boyfriend's face, and no, oh no, Dex looks devastated.  He's not blinking, tears pooling, and Nursey feels a strange swooping sensation.  His first instinct is to comfort his boyfriend, of course, but given the context that seems rather redundant.  His next is sheer, unadulterated joy.  He's being proposed to.  His boyfriend is proposing to him.  William Poindexter is asking him, Derek Malik Nurse, to marry him. 

A smile blooms on his face, bright and beautiful, and he leans forward to cup Dex's face in his warm hands. 

Dear god, he loves this man. 

"Dex," he whispers reverently.  Dex's wide eyes gaze into his own, and Nursey leans forward.  Neither of them are aware of the crowd going wild around them, their friends in the stands frozen in suspense, the entire Falconers team staring up at the scene before them.  Pressing his forehead to Dex's, Nursey lets his hands fall to wrap around the pale ones clutching the black ring box.

“Are you going to ask me out loud?”

Dex lets out a quick breath, almost like a gasp in reverse, and shudders under Nursey’s warm gaze.  It takes a moment, but eventually the words fall out of his mouth as though they’ve been waiting a lifetime to leave.

“Derek Malik Nurse, will you marry me?”

Nursey’s smile goes soft and vulnerable and impossibly happy.

“Yes.”

The crowd goes ballistic around them, the applause thunderous, almost drowning out the sound of Shitty’s ecstatic yelling beside.  Dex slides the ring onto Nursey’s waiting finger, pale cheeks rosy with delight, before Nursey swoops down to kiss him enthusiastically.  They ignore everyone else, kissing each other with all the passion of victory, pulled together tightly as Nursey cradles Dex’s head and Dex wraps his strong arms around Nursey’s waist.  When they finally pull apart, both red faced and grinning, their friends descend on them with glee.  The hugs and congratulations are long and lovely, and Dex begins to regret a little less his decision to propose in front of them.  They’ve got nothing but positive words to say, until Shitty turns to Nursey when they’ve all calmed down somewhat.

“So,” he asks as the crowd return their attention to the rink, the game about to begin.  “What d’ya think of Dex’s proposal?”

“It was perfect,” Nursey says without hesitation, still beaming from ear to ear.  He nuzzles Dex’s cheek playfully, and Dex rolls his eyes even as the blush creeps up his neck.  With one finger Nursey turns Dex’s head around so they’re face to face, barely a centimetre between them.  After pressing another kiss to Dex’s lips, Nursey sighs with deep contentment, face impossibly fond.

“It was very Dex, so it was perfect for me.”

This time Dex is the one to pull Nursey into a kiss, smiling the whole time, warmer under Nursey’s hands than he’s ever been.  They kiss as the game begins, all attention back on the rink but theirs, too caught up in their bliss.  Dex runs his fingers through Nursey’s dark curls.  Nursey tightens his grip where he’s worked his way beneath Dex’s shirt to the skin of his hips.  No one seems to mind, not that they’d pay much heed if they did.  This is their moment, and it’s wonderful.

Yeah, it was a good plan.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the anon who sent me this:
> 
> 'So I just read you dexnursey head cannons and the falconer's game proposal made me think of the episode of Friends where Mike proposes to Phoebe at a baseball game on the jumbotron after she makes fun of it and I feel like that's what would happen with nursey and dex, but it would all be ok and nursey would be like "you're a dork, I love you, yes" and ya, anyway this isn't important information, just thought I'd share...'
> 
> Hope y'all liked it!


End file.
